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Infused with Asian flavors, this black sesame banana cake offers a delightful balance of sweetness and nuttiness. Fans of tahini-infused treats will find this cake irresistible!
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What makes this recipe special
By now, you probably already have your favorite banana bread recipe bookmarked and memorized. You most likely won't need another banana cake recipe, but let's be real, what's one more? Instead of making classic banana bread, I did what I always do and added a little twist. Add a little Asian influence and voila! You have a black sesame banana cake. It's different, but this dessert is just as delicious as the classic version.
If you're like me, you probably have a couple of spotty bananas sitting on your counter that are yearning to be eaten. The best solution? To bake them, of course! (Unless you're making banana egg rolls, which is another fantastic solution.) This black sesame banana cake is just as easy to make as the classic version, with one extra step, making the black sesame paste. But trust me, that one extra step will be worth it!
Recipe
Black Sesame Banana Cake
Ingredients
Black sesame paste
- ½ cup black sesame seeds, toasted (72 grams)
- ½ cup honey (160 grams)
Black sesame banana cake
- ½ cup butter, softened at room temperature (113 grams)
- ¾ cup brown sugar (150 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 4 medium ripe bananas, mashed
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt, plain (56 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (296 grams)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons toasted black sesame seeds (27 grams)
- 1 medium ripe banana peeled, sliced in half lengthwise
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray.
- Process ½ cup black sesame seeds in a food processor until finely ground. Add honey and process until mixture becomes a paste.
- Cream together softened butter with brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer for 3-4 minutes or until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add mashed bananas, yogurt, vanilla, and black sesame paste. Mix until well combined.
- Add dry ingredients including all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, sesame seeds, and stir just until combined. Pour batter into prepared baking pan.
- Cut banana in half lengthwise and arrange it on top of the cake, gently pressing it in. Bake black sesame banana bread for 45 minutes - 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
Notes
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Make black sesame paste
To make the black sesame paste, you'll need the help of a food processor. Process the black sesame seeds until finely ground. This should take a few minutes.
Then, add honey for a touch of sweetness and process the mixture until it becomes a paste.
If you don't have a food processor, you can try using a high-power blender.
If black sesame seeds are not available, you can substitute them with black sesame paste. Adjust the sweetness accordingly if using pre-made black sesame paste, because some pastes are sweetened already.
Step 2: Make cake batter
Now it's time to make the cake batter. Cream together the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Alternatively, use a hand mixer to achieve the same results.
Add the eggs one at a time until well incorporated, followed by the remaining wet ingredients, including the mashed bananas, yogurt, vanilla, and black sesame paste.
For the bananas, you want the bananas to be dark brown on the outside because they have converted much of their starch to sugar. If you peel the banana and find that the insides are black and slimy, it's too ripe for banana bread.
It may sound odd to add Greek yogurt to the batter, but it helps to tenderize the crumb and contributes to a soft texture. You can substitute Greek yogurt with an equal amount of sour cream or buttermilk for similar moisture and tanginess in the cake.
Now add the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. You don't want to overmix the batter, or the gluten will develop, and the cake can become tough.
Step 3: Bake
Pour the batter into a 9x9-inch baking pan and arrange a banana split in half for a pretty topping. For this banana, I recommend using one that's not quite as ripe as the one you used for the cake. You want it to still hold its shape while baking, so a speckled banana is best, as opposed to a completely dark banana.
Bake the black sesame banana bread until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
As tempting as it is to eat the cake right away, let it cool before digging in. It's still cooking inside, so we want it to finish doing its thing before grabbing a fork.
Boy oh boy, was it hard to stop eating this black sesame banana cake! The black sesame paste adds just a hint of nuttiness to the bread, adding a new flavor element to this bread. Plus, it just looks so cool with the hints of black, don't you think?
Make-ahead and storage
- Make-ahead: You can make this bread a day ahead and store it in an airtight container at room temperature. Reheat it in the oven at 350°F for 10 minutes or until warm before serving.
- Store: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refridgerator for up to 5 days.
More banana dessert recipes
Looking for more desserts featuring bananas? Try these:
Grace says
I used to make the traditional kind of banana bread before and I was hoping to do something different this time. I’m so glad I found this recipe, I actually love the fact that you use black sesame to make the paste from scratch unlike other ones that use tahini. All the flavors are spot on, the sesame taste is in a great balance with the bananas, not overpowering at all. Thank you for sharing!
Cherry on My Sundae says
I'm so glad you enjoyed this banana cake! Thank you for visiting!
Alice says
I made this with some modifications! 1 cup of buckwheat flour and 1 cup of cake flour, 1/2 cup of sugar and three large bananas. It came out perfect. I never thought to use black sesame in my baking. So glad to have come across this recipe, many thanks!!
Cherry on My Sundae says
I love that you used buckwheat flour! Thanks for giving my recipe a try!
Maureen says
Hi: Thanks for this. I have paste leftover from ice cream; if I'm using paste rather than making it, what's the quantity? Thanks.
Christine Ma says
You'll need 1/2 cup black sesame paste for the cake.
Maureen says
Thanks much.